30 May 2014

US High School Alters Yearbook Photos Of Its Female Students, Causes Controversy

Wasatch High School in Utah has caused controversy after it was discovered that it had altered the yearbook photographs of some of its female students.

The edited images show the addition of sleeves, more modest necklines, and in one case, the removal of a tattoo.

According to Fox 13 News, the nearly two dozen girls whose pictures were affected were upset that the decision to alter them seemed to be at random.

“I feel like they put names in a hat and pick and choose who. There were plenty of girls that were wearing thicker tank tops and half of them got edited and half of them didn’t,” said sophomore Rachel Russel.

In response to the incident, the school said the students should have known about the dress code, and that there was a sign saying their photographs might be edited.

However, Wasatch County Superintendent Terry E. Shoemaker admitted that the rule could have been more consistently enforced.

“We only apologize in the sense that we want to be more consistent with what we’re trying to do in that sense we can help kids better prepare for their future by knowing how to dress appropriately for things.”

What do you think–should the school have informed its students before Photoshopping their pictures, or is manipulating images going too far?